Ricciardo relying on rain to beat Mercedes

29 March 2014 – Daniel Ricciardo has conceded that Red Bull will be reliant on rain if they are to beat Mercedes at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo's team-mate Sebastian Vettel was just 0.055s slower than Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton in the wet at Sepang, but during the dry final practice session Mercedes was a second quicker than any of their rivals.

Ricciardo, who was excluded from second place at the Australian Grand Prix, will start Sunday's race from fifth on the grid.

"When it rains here, it definitely pours and the weather was our biggest challenge today," said Ricciardo. "Finding space on the track can be tough and the visibility is so bad, the spray comes from hundreds of metres away so just getting some clean road is something you really have to try and take care of."

Ricciardo added that he will be investigating how he can close the gap to team-mate Vettel.

"I was a bit off in Q3, so I’ve got to try and understand why, but nonetheless I think top five is not too bad, considering the conditions," he said.

"I think we’ve definitely got a better chance in the wet. Mercedes were really quick this morning in the dry, so it would be good if it’s like this tomorrow. Sebastian had quite a big gap to me, so I’ve got to see where I can improve really as his pace was really good and close to pole."

Social Media

Check out our community:

About us

GPUpdate.net, the daily motorsport news website which is celebrating over a decade of the latest in Formula 1, publicly dates back to 1998.
Founded as F1Racing.net, the online magazine is part of JHED Media BV, a registered company operating out of The Netherlands.